1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information provision system capable of providing convenience to travelers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with the widespread use of the Internet, various distribution businesses are being incorporated with the Internet. Similarly, in the travel agency business, various services, such as searching and reservation of package travels, provision of travel information, and personal bulletin boards, are provided on the Web. In the future, it is considered that the trend will become increasingly stronger, but at present, the incorporation is confined to substitutions of actual travel agency businesses. Regarding uses of the Internet, promptness, taste of users, and services meeting needs are possible, and there is a possibility that the services of current travel agency businesses can be greatly expanded.
On the other hand, regarding GPS navigation systems, as an apparatus relating to a global positioning system (GPS) apparatus having high-speed performance, in particular, for determining a time to a first position and for recapturing, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-191127 is known. In order to measure the current position by GPS, time, orbit information (Ephemeris) of each satellite, information (Almanac) of a group of satellites, and correction data of the ionosphere are required as initial information. In order to determine the current position in a short time, it is more preferable that approximate positional information be available. Conventionally, under the precondition that approximate positional information and the almanac cannot be known in advance, improvements in technology for achieving higher speed are being made, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-191127 is an example thereof.
Thus, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-191127 relates to a method for searching and capturing a signal from a GPS satellite by a multi-channel GPS receiver and to a multi-channel GPS receiver. A method is described therein in which the time until the initial position determination of a GPS receiver is improved by calculating in advance GPS satellites which are expected to appear at a plurality of times in the future on the basis of the current time, a GPS almanac, and a predetermined geographical position, and by searching for a GPS satellite when power is switched on again.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a travel data package which makes it possible to enjoy more a travel by being installed in a portable terminal and a system, and an information provision system for supplying it. Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a client/server system capable of providing a wide range of services in combination with a travel agency business on the Web which can be accessed via the Internet and by adding new best functions thereto.
In addition, this invention also aims to provide a system which is, by using this travel data package, capable of shortening the time for measuring the current position even when a large distance is traveled, such as on a travel.
Accordingly, in the information provision system of the present invention, by providing a data package in which information relating to a travel site location is extracted in advance and stored on the basis of an itinerary, it is only necessary to carry a compact portable terminal to easily see information relating to the location of each travel site, for example, contents introducing that place, a map, photographs, etc. Then, by estimating and creating approximate positional information and an almanac, which are difficult to create each time on the portable terminal side, in the position-related information on the basis of an itinerary, it is possible to provide a system which can shorten the time for obtaining a position even when a large distance is traveled, such as, on a travel.
More specifically, the information provision system of the present invention comprises means for obtaining itinerary information in which at least one place and a date and time are associated; means for extracting position-related information which is related to the place contained in the itinerary information; means for creating a travel data package by associating the extracted position-related information with the date and time contained in the itinerary information; and means for distributing the travel data package. Also, the information provision method of the present invention comprises a step of obtaining itinerary information in which at least one place and a date and time are associated; a step of extracting position-related information related to the place contained in the itinerary information and of creating a travel data package in which the position-related information is associated with the date and time contained in the itinerary information; and a step of distributing the travel data package.
In the information provision system and the information provision method of the present invention, an operation is performed for extracting position-related information, for which processing performance is required, on a server side having added functionality and a high-speed operation in which an information provision system is installed, the position-related information is formed as a data package in advance, and travel data is distributed. Therefore, a user receiving this travel data package can easily obtain information relating to a travel site at each travel site by merely storing a travel data package in a portable small-capacity terminal. It is possible to carry a data package containing all information relating to the travel sites, for example, the country to be visited, and to obtain information by retrieving it for each place visited. However, since the amount of data is too large, it is not easy to store all of it in a portable terminal. On the other hand, although it is also possible to obtain information on a place visited on demand via the Internet, a connection time with a network is required. Also, depending on the travel site, there is a possibility that an infrastructure for connecting to the Internet is not available, or the information obtained is only in a language which cannot be understood.
In contrast, in the information provision system and the information provision method of the present invention, since position-related information is extracted on the basis of an itinerary, it is possible to considerably reduce the travel data to be formed as a package. Therefore, the travel data can also be easily stored in a portable terminal. Also, since position-related information is extracted on the basis of an itinerary, most of the information requested at a travel site can be covered. Also, since position-related information is formed as a package in advance, it is possible to quickly see information relating to a travel site. Also, since a travel data package can be created for each user, it is possible to collect information on which language can be easily understood by the user. In addition, since the taste of the user can be reflected, it is possible to form in advance information as a package which will be required by the user, which is easier to use.
Furthermore, it is possible to put, into position-related information, at least some auxiliary position-measurement information used when the current position is measured, at least one piece of longitude and latitude information corresponding to a place in the itinerary information, or map data containing places. The auxiliary position-measurement information is, for example, an almanac used when radio waves from a satellite are received to measure the position of a current position. The almanac is effective for about one to three months, and information relating to the date and time and an area, which are required at a travel site, can be anticipated in advance and can be put in a travel data package. Then, at the travel site, it is possible to save the work of downloading an almanac for measurement of position, and it is possible to search for a satellite for measurement of position in a short time. Therefore, it is possible to obtain the current position in a short time even at a travel site.
In addition, if longitude and latitude information is contained in the position-related information, the current position can be measured by using the longitude and latitude information of the travel site as an initial position, also making it possible to measure the current position in a short time. Normally, initial position data required to speed up the capturing of GPS is from about 150 km up to about 1500 kmno matter how far the distance is away. In a trip abroad, in most cases, since this degree of distance is traveled, it takes more time to capture GPS than in a case in which an initial position is not given unless an appropriate initial position is given. For example, if a user in Japan goes on a trip abroad, in a conventional GPS terminal, an attempt is made to capture a satellite by using the location of Japan as the initial value. In this case, it takes more time to determine that a satellite is not found.
In a case where longitude and latitude information is stored inside a terminal in such a manner as to correspond to each place in the whole world, wasteful data is always stored for a travel site which is seldom visited in a lifetime. The case in which data for the whole world is stored causes an increase in the memory capacity for storage and affects the cost, and in turn, the size, and this is similar to other position-related information. Therefore, adoption of a travel data package of the present invention leads to a reduced cost/reduced size of a terminal, an improvement in the capturing speed of GPS, and in turn, an improvement in the user interface.
It is also possible to include map data, such as the surroundings of a travel site location, including the place thereof, as position-related information, and a map can be displayed on a portable terminal at a travel site. Also in this case, having map information corresponding to each place in the whole world is impossible in practice and is quite wasteful. However, by extracting necessary map information by an itinerary, it is possible to store the necessary map information in a portable terminal without significantly increasing the amount of data.
Also, with respect to an information provision system, an information provision system can be obtained by sending an itinerary via a computer network, such as the Internet. Also, by forming a travel data package into a transmission medium as an electronic mail or as a data package, in which the travel data package is embedded, it is possible for the user to obtain it via the computer network. Therefore, the information provision system of the present invention can be provided as part of a client/server system, having increased general-purpose characteristics, which is capable of providing a wide range of services by making it possible to access it via a computer network.
When position measurement is performed by using the information of this travel data package, by obtaining the date and time (the current date and time) at which position measurement is performed from a real time clock and by using the coordinates of the travel site when the current date and time matches the travel date and time, it is possible to confirm with accuracy the current position in a short time, for example, even in a foreign country outside Japan.
Accordingly, in the present invention, there is provided a current-position-measurement system comprising means for obtaining auxiliary position-measurement information or longitude and latitude information, corresponding to the current date and time obtained from a real time clock which counts the date and time, from a travel data package in which position-related information having at least some auxiliary position-measurement information used when the current position is measured or at least one piece of longitude and latitude information corresponding to a travel site location is stored in such a manner as to be associated with the travel date and time. Also, a portable terminal having this current-position-measurement system, a GPS system which can receive radio waves from a satellite and convert them into information of the current location, and a memory storing a travel data package has a function capable of easily obtaining the current location in a short time at a travel site. Furthermore, in the present invention, there is provided a current-position geodetic method comprising an initial step of obtaining auxiliary position-measurement information or longitude and latitude information, corresponding to the current date and time obtained from a real time clock which counts the date and time, from a travel data package in which position-related information having at least some auxiliary position-measurement information used when the current position is measured or at least one piece of longitude and latitude information corresponding to a travel site location is stored in such a manner as to be associated with the travel date and time, and a step of measuring the current position by using the auxiliary position-measurement information or the longitude and latitude information obtained in the initial step.
In comparison with an almanac for a GPS satellite, the ephemeris is effective only for about four hours, and it is downloaded from a satellite. Therefore, when there is an effective ephemeris, since it can be determined that position measurement was performed at a position sufficiently close to the current location, it is desirable that the position of the current location be measured by using the information at that time, that is, the up-to-date longitude and latitude information which was measured in the past, as the initial position.
Also, a means or step of inputting a travel site location may be provided, so that, when the place (the input place or the current-location area specification) of the input travel site matches a location (scheduled location) of a travel site corresponding to the current date and time in a travel data package, longitude and latitude information associated with the current date and time can be obtained from the travel data package so as to be used as the initial position. Since the travel progresses according to the itinerary when the current-location area specification matches the scheduled place, it is possible to obtain the current position with high accuracy in a short time by measuring the current position by using the longitude and latitude information of the scheduled place as the initial position.
Also, when the input place or the current-location area specification does not match the scheduled place, since information of a travel site different from the current location is referred to, it is preferable that the current position be measured by using the longitude and latitude information of the scheduled place on the itinerary as the initial position. Alternatively, by determining that the travel is not progressing according to the itinerary, and by measuring the current position without setting the initial position, spending time as a result of measuring the position of the current location on the basis of an erroneous initial position can be prevented.
Furthermore, by taking into consideration a case in which the itinerary is changed, it is preferable that a scheduler function be provided which is capable of displaying and editing the travel date and time of a travel data package and position-related information associated with the travel date and time. Also, it is possible to use this scheduler function as a means for inputting a travel site.
Furthermore, if the position-related information is made to contain map information corresponding to a travel site location, it is possible to display the current position which is measured on a map in a manner which is easy to understand.
The information provision system and the current-location position-measurement system of the present invention can be realized by installing an information provision program and a current-location geodetic program having commands capable of executing the above-described information provision method and the above-described current-location geodetic method in a server and a portable terminal, respectively. Also, these programs can be provided in such a way that they are recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and furthermore, can be provided in such a way that they are converted into or embedded into a communication medium or a transmission medium, which is supplied via a computer network or other communication means.
The above-described travel data package can also be provided in such a way that it is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and furthermore, can be provided in such a way that it is converted into or embedded into a transmission medium or a communication medium, which is supplied via a computer network or other communication means.